President's Corner

Sandy Arseneault,

president of SDEA, welcomes you to the new SDEA website. We are still working out the kinks, adding information, and testing usability, but we are happy you are here. Please continue to check back from time to time and check out all the great information we will have for you.

From the November 10th President's Message

The leaves

are changing, the days are getting shorter, and the temperatures are definitely getting cooler. Fall is in the air. Fall is actually my favorite time of year. When I was in the classroom it meant we were well on our way to establishing our classroom schedules and routines.

As your president, I have come to love this time of year as an opportunity to visit your schools and classrooms. This year I have experienced quite a ride on the emotional roller coaster. I walk into buildings and am still greeted with the same passion and caring our South Dakota educators and support professionals have always had, but there is something different ? emotions of fear and concern. The stories are revealing what real impact the past and current budget cuts have had on people! I say people because I believe that these budget cuts affect us all ? students, parents, educators, and communities.

The lack of adequate education funding no longer means just tightening our belts. It now means cutting programs, staff, and student opportunities. I am fearful we will see that some cuts will never heal. The long-term effects are yet to be seen, however, the impact right now is evident! Hundreds of positions have been lost with the domino effect of program cuts, opportunities lost, and larger class sizes.

Just this past week the National Assessment of Education Progress released "The Nation's Report Card" showing falling scores in math and reading for South Dakota students, while the rest of the country made improvements. I believe this is a direct result of underfunding South Dakota Public schools for years.

Schools that were able to hold off cuts this year are saying that will not be the case next year. If your school has not had to make significant cuts this year, it?s easy to put it in the back of your mind and hope you don?t experience what some of your colleagues across the state are feeling.

When I witness educators, who have always been passionate about their profession, feeling beaten down, or schools that have had a reputation for strong leadership and morale feeling hopeless, I am reminded that we are all in this together! This is our reality. These stories are more the norm across the state than the exception.

I am asking you now, have we had enough? Are we ready to speak up collectively? Are we in this together? My answer is yes ? what is yours? I am challenging you to three things: Celebrate what we do well! Share your student successes. Shout them from the rooftops! Have the courage to change what needs to be changed. Last but not least, stand up for what we know is right!

This past two months SDEA has lead the way in gathering signatures to put an Initiated Measure on the ballot that would create an additional one penny sales tax dedicated to K-12 education and Medicaid. This increase would mean approximately 180 million dollars that will be split evenly between the two. On November 1, 2011 SDEA and Moving South Dakota Forward submitted to the Secretary of State over 33,850 petition signatures, more than twice the number of signatures necessary needed to place the measure on the ballot for the November 2012 general election.

There were over 500 hundred volunteers circulating petitions and many of them were SDEA members! This has been an incredible bipartisan effort and huge accomplishment in a short period of time. However the work has now just begun. We must follow this through to the November 2012 election. It will take all of us to get involved! This is our opportunity to engage our communities in doing what is right for kids! Let?s rally together and STAND UP for what we know is right!

To keep to date on the President's publications as well as her public activities and meetings click one of the below links.